One thing people tend to comment on when they visit our home is the number of books we own. One of the things Josh and I started in the first year of marriage was reading to each other. Each Sunday we read a chapter of a book focused on the home. We also read through a book in our morning devotional time together. Josh reads fiction to me in the evenings, as time allows. We try to get a chapter in each night. We’re currently reading through N. D. Wilson’s 100 Cupboards Series (ht to J. Farmer) and enjoying it immensely. We love the we read together so much–it’s a great thing to share in marriage.

Here’s a list of the books we read in 2010 and the ones we’ve read so far this year. It’s amazing how much you material you can cover when only reading a chapter or less a day.

Books Read in 2010
(You’ll notice in 2010 my solo reading was nonexistent . . . dissertation and Becca!)

Fiction:

NonFiction:

Books Read in 2011

Fiction:

Nonfiction:

Josh and I are not the only readers in our home. Becca loves books. Of all the gifts she’s received, books seem to be her favorite “toy” (besides all her animal friends, who are becoming more and more important!). We read with Becca multiple times a day. She does a great job filling in words for me, and it’s a lot of fun.

Becca’s favorite book is the Jesus Storybook Bible. Becca and I read from it each morning as she drinks her bottle of milk. We usually read from it 1 or 2 more times during the day. (The picture on the left shows some of Becca’s favorite Bible stories.)

Becca’s second favorite book is about Hanukkah. We read it over and over again. It’s so cute to hear her say “Hanukkah” (something like, hah-nah-nah-nah). Becca’s motivation for wearing pony tails in her hair is that it matches the girl in the Hanukkah book. Most of the books Becca likes are rather short, but recently I have been reading her The Little Engine That Could” a lot. She likes the voices of the different characters.

One other thing to share about. Becca is doing well with her potty training. She keeps a dry diaper as long as I take her to the potty often enough. She rarely tells me she has to go potty and if I ask her if she wants to go, she usually says “ah-ti-ti-ti” (= no thank you). We use stickers to reward Becca – one for a dry diaper and one for going potty (chocolate is now only used for special occasions). I started this by making a sticker chart for Becca. However, one day Josh let her put her reward stickers on his laptop. This started the apartment-wide sticker chart. Now Becca puts her reward stickers all over our home. It’s really cute and well worth it. (The picture on the left shows how many diapers Becca used in 2 weeks. It’s the first time we’ve been able to go 2 weeks before washing the diapers.)